The T-Mobile Sonic 4G Mobile Hotspot is feature packed and the only one offered by the carrier with HSPA+ 42, making it the fastest yet.

The T-Mobile Sonic 4G Mobile Hotspot ($99 with contract, $174.99 without) is to support the carrier's HSPA+ 42 network. So it's much faster than our previous Editors' Choice, the T-Mobile 4G Mobile Hotspot ZTE MF61($79.99, 4 stars). It also adds some new features, like the ability to share a microSD card over Wi-Fi. Though the Sonic falls short on battery life and Wi-Fi signal range, we think the boost in speed is worth it, and we're making the Sonic 4G our new Editors' Choice for hotspots on T-Mobile.

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Design, Features, and SetupThe Sonic 4G measures 4.02 by 2.20 by 0.61 inches and weighs 3.88 ounces, making it larger and heavier than the ZTE hotspot, but still very portable. The front sports a shiny, slightly-mirrored finish, with a small OLED display that shows signal strength, connection type (3G or 4G), Wi-Fi status, the number of devices connected, and battery life. The back is made of rubberized black plastic and can be removed to access the battery, SIM card slot, and a microSD slot which supports cards up to 32GB. The right side houses a Power button and a WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup) button that will allow WPS-enabled devices to connect to the mobile wireless network quickly. The bottom has a standard microUSB port, while the left side has an external antenna port to boost reception. The hotspot can charge and transmit data while plugged into either a computer or wall.

The Sonic is simple to set up. Turn the device on, wait for it to connect to either 3G or 4G, then go ahead and connect up to 5 devices. The SSID and password are found beneath the back cover and I never experienced any problem connecting to the hotspot. The Web-based admin interface lets you change settings. For security, the Sonic 4G supports MAC address filtering, as well as WEP, WPA, or WPA2 encryption. You can also send and receive text messages from this interface.

A MicroSD card plugged into the Sonic can become a shared drive on the hotspot's Wi-Fi network. I was able to easily download and upload files from my computer, though file management only works through the hotspot's Web-based admin page.

Service Plans, Performance, and ConclusionsT-Mobile offers both contract-based and pre-paid data plans for the Sonic. Contract plans start at $39.99 per month for 2GB, and go up to $79.99 for 10GB a month. There are no overage charges, but data is throttled to about 200kbps once your cap has been reached. You also have the option to pay as you go, with data passes starting at $10 per week for 100MB and going up to $50 per month for 3GB.

As the first HSPA+ 42Mbps hotspot for T-Mobile, the Sonic is noticeably faster than the HSPA+ 21-based ZTE. Over eight tests in Manhattan, the Sonic averaged 5.47Mbps down compared to the ZTE's 2.54Mbps, with a startling maximum download speed of 18.59Mbps compared to the ZTE's 8.8Mbps. That fits: using an HSPA+ 42 instead of an HSPA+ 21 modem, the Sonic is about twice as fast on T-Mobile's HSPA+ 42 network. The Sonic had faster downloads in six of our eight tests, only doing worse than the ZTE hotspot when both of the devices were very slow. T-Mobile may be capping uploads; the two devices were statistically tied on upload speeds, both around 1Mbps on average. T-Mobile has been working to expand its 4G network, adding HSPA+ 42 coverage for 163 markets across the country, covering nearly 180 million customers.

The Sonic 4G did not fare as well on our distance test. Speeds were great when the hotspot was right next to the computer, but as we moved away, results faded quickly. At about 25 feet, the Sonic 4G lost a considerable amount of speed, and at 50 feet, signal dropped off completely. This was disappointing compared with the ZTE, which held speeds through 25 feet and began to lose speed but not signal at 50 feet. Battery life was also disappointing, with the Sonic 4G turning in only 3 hours, 49 minutes. The ZTE MF61 turned in a much more respectable 5 hours, 2 minutes in the same test.

The Sonic 4G is the fastest T-Mobile hotspot we've tested so far. It features an OLED screen that displays a lot of useful information and can host files over Wi-Fi via its microSD slot. The ZTE is still a good mobile hotspot with longer battery life, but we give a heavier weighting to speed when judging hotspots. That makes the T-Mobile Sonic 4G our new Editors' Choice.

About the Author

Before joining the consumer electronics team at PCMag, Eugene worked at local news station NY1 doing everything from camera work to writing scripts. He grew up in Montclair, New Jersey and graduated from the University of Virginia in 2010. Outside of work Eugene enjoys TV, loud music, and making generally healthy and responsible life choices.

T-Mobile Sonic 4G Mobile Hotspo...

T-Mobile Sonic 4G Mobile Hotspot

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